Playdate - the console with a crank

[Ikagura]

It's unique and enables unique game experiences.

I'd argue that being unique doesn't implicate that it's systematically intrinsically better.

 

[kanesha]

I'd argue that being unique doesn't implicate that it's systematically intrinsically better.

Better than what? Nobody compared it to anything other than those who imply that it is deprecated by some other handheld that is just a low end android with some buttons. The only thing that's kind of comparable to playdate is maybe arduboy, that beast has an OLED display everyone here should love it!

Post automatically merged: Jan 31, 2025

This is par for the course with the Playdate. The entire existence of it has been non-stop naysaysers claiming it would be good if it had this or that feature that would make it exactly like every other cheap emulator handheld or if it was $20 they'd buy one.

And yet, Panic can't make them fast enough because they sell out really fast and basically everyone that gets one loves it.

It's unique and enables unique game experiences. It's quirky and inspires creativity with the crank and the monochrome non-backlit screen. Yeah, it's more expensive than whatever cheap chinese handheld you think is a far better value. But the people making it and designing it and writing the software for it are making a fair wage. The company behind it can actually be contacted and will stand behind it. Plus, you get 24 games as part of the purchase price. That's 24 new, unique games made specifically for this system. Some by pretty well known game devs.

Clearly there are lots of people that don't "get it". That's fine, don't buy it and move along. Personally, I think it's awesome and have really enjoyed it and many of the interesting games being made for it.

You can ignore the nostalgia trippin old farts, the OP wants you to sell it harder, so what's your ultimate crank game? Hope it's not the surfing one...

 

[kelbot]

Better than what? Nobody compared it to anything other than those who imply that it is deprecated by some other handheld that is just a low end android with some buttons. The only thing that's kind of comparable to playdate is maybe arduboy, that beast has an OLED display everyone here should love it!

Post automatically merged: Jan 31, 2025

You can ignore the nostalgia trippin old farts, the OP wants you to sell it harder, so what's your ultimate crank game? Hope it's not the surfing one...

Hmmm, I think Crankin's Time Travel Adventures was my favorite game and use of the crank in the Season 1 set of games. A Balanced Brew is another really good game and use of the crank. There are a number of other games I've enjoyed too that use the crank.

 

[BunnyLain]

The only thing that's kind of comparable to playdate is maybe arduboy, that beast has an OLED display everyone here should love it!

Of course you own one of these too, whats your high score on Chri-Bocchi Cat?

 

[kanesha]

Hmmm, I think Crankin's Time Travel Adventures was my favorite game and use of the crank in the Season 1 set of games. A Balanced Brew is another really good game and use of the crank. There are a number of other games I've enjoyed too that use the crank.

Gotta admit though those seem a bit tongue in cheek, a bit one trick pony, they show some potential, but don't feel fully realized. Take some of that and put it into something more substential, with many worlds and boss fights and new mechanics introduced somewhere down the line, stuff like that to make it feel like real game.

Post automatically merged: Feb 1, 2025

Of course you own one of these too, whats your high score on Chri-Bocchi Cat?

no no no, too cheap and too snob to own any of that. I'll nitpick hardware and firmware and I will totally compare the games to the classics and belittle them, but not because some other random handheld has emulators, just because you gotta measure up to prior art.

 

[BunnyLain]

no no no, too cheap and too snob to own any of that. I'll nitpick hardware and firmware and I will totally compare the games to the classics and belittle them, but not because some other random handheld has emulators, just because you gotta measure up to prior art.

Mine is 653, I think it's a really cute little hand held that I can actually fit in my wallet. Love it.

 

[kanesha]

Mine is 653, I think it's a really cute little hand held that I can actually fit in my wallet. Love it.

make thread!

 

[PurpleShoes]

I was looking for this thread! I have a Playdate and love it dearly. It's actually what kind of got me back into gaming after years of terminal disinterest! I don't think 'gimmick' should be such a dirty word personally, but I think it's really unfair to compare it to emulation devices because uh, it's not one of them.
The Playdate is a totally unique ecosystem with its own library of games. Some of my personal favorites are:

• Angel Pop, this really fun and kinetic little bullet hell shooter with a hand-drawn artstyle
• Faraway Fairway, a procedurally generated top-down golf game with Animal Crossing vibes
• Mars After Midnight, a new game by Lucas Pope. It's his standard fare of adventure games about working a mundane job with a story happening in the background.
• Zero Zero: Perfect Stop, a Densha De Go clone which is a perfect fit for the crank
• Jump Truck, which I couldn't find a trailer for, but it just came out! A high-speed 3D racer with winding, Monkey-Ball like tracks and extremely tight timers!

There's tons more, I could go on for a while! I love this little thing so dearly, and it's always in my right pocket while I work my line cook job.

 

[kelbot]

There are lots of games that don't even use the crank but are nice little games too. I was really addicted to Shift for a while. Also, the dungeon crawler/roguelike-ish game Under the Castle was really good.

Post automatically merged: Feb 4, 2025

Plus, a lot of games are free/pay what you want on itch.io or are only a few dollars. I think if you're even mildly interested in the Playdate you won't be dissapointed. There's lots of fun games for cheap or free that are unique and interesting.

Oh yeah, another game I really enjoyed was Fall of Elena Temple. It uses the crank a little bit but is just a really enjoyable puzzle platformer.

 

[CaptainToad]

Making anything out of ordinary is expensive, so I understand the price, what I don't understand is the crank. Why? What? When and where was there ever a crank? Like make some other cool gimmick like a mini steering wheel or mini track ball or mini arcade stick, something that makes sense then I can at least pine for and envy rich noblemen that can afford it. The only thing I can think of that resembled a crank was one of those armwrestling arcades, is that what it is? Does it have force feedback? Can it fingerwrestle?

Before I looked into it, when it released I was assuming that the B&W, low-resolution, un-backlit screen and the crank meant that it was aimed to be charged with the crank and used little enough power to make that possible. Which is still a bit of a gimmick but would make it a truly portable device. Using the crank in games would charge it too.

But it's just an input and the screen is like that for arbitrary reasons. They could have added in a solar panel to also help charge it and as another game input like those Boktai GBA games and stuff. Make a device with all these quirky inputs for game designers to experiment with. What it actually is is so lame.

Edit: Could add in an AM/FM tuner and have that as another input like how the old Digivice toys had you place your digivice near electronics that emitted radiation like that to do something (I think it helped power up your dude during evolution?). A lot of cool electronics you could add to a $200 device to experiment with.

 

[Ikagura]

This console is a 3D one? The first boot opening is basically that.

 

[BunnyLain]

There's a few 3d games! But I feel it's 3d in the same way demo scene demonstrations were 3d!

 

[DrunkOcelot]

Does anyone actually have one of these? I love the absurd concept, but adding shipping and taxes it becomes way too expensive for what I care to cough up with. Don't even remember how/where I first heard of it.

If you wanna know more about it you can google it and check their website.

View attachment 16854

Getting caught playing the play date

 

[PurpleShoes]

This console is a 3D one? The first boot opening is basically that.

I have a few fully 3D games on my PD! Graphically they're like polygonal SNES games, but textured. I have four 3D games (Jump Truck, P-Racer, Tales of Etad, Tau) and they all run very smoothly.
I actually assumed they were implementing some sort of Mode 7-type faux-3D, until I went way out of bounds in Jump Truck and got stuck on a seam lol.